Stratospheric Census was represented by Martin Siegl and Gerrit Holl. They explained the experiment in a brief talk and emphasized the fruitful cooperation between IRV, IRF, ESA and ESRANGE that had led to a successful flight.

team has published its final experiment report January 15th, 2009. A final presentation has been held on January 13th, 2009 for an audience of students, supporters and supervisors at IRV in Kiruna, Sweden.

It consisted of a pump creating an air?ow through a ?lter capable
of catching particles down to 0.3µm in diameter. A ground-controlled system
of tubes and valves ensured air?ow through the ?lter at an altitude of 12 km
and above, up to the balloon ?oating altitude of 27 km. Upon landing, the
?lter was recovered and analysed using electron microscopy, autoradiography
and X-ray ?uorescence. Autoradiography and X-ray ?uorescence indicated,
with good signi?cance, the presence of Co-57, In-11, I-125, Xe-133/Ba-133,
Cs-137 and Ir-192.

The team has experienced a year filled with an exciting, demanding and very rewarding project. Work on the scientific aspects of dust in the stratosphere will continue!

]]>http://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?feed=rss2&p=220BEXUS-7 Trajectoryhttp://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?p=207
http://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?p=207#commentsSun, 23 Nov 2008 15:27:09 +0000adminhttp://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?p=207The flight trajectory of BEXUS-7, carrying Stratospheric Census and other experiments, had its starting point at ESRANGE near Kiruna (Sweden) and ended in a landing near Rovaniemi (Finnland). Google Earth (TM) allows a 3-D visualisation based on GPS data.

]]>http://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?feed=rss2&p=207Article in Visionsbladethttp://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?p=197
http://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?p=197#commentsThu, 30 Oct 2008 12:52:47 +0000martinshttp://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?p=82A small article about Stratospheric Census was published in Visionsbladet/Annonsbladet, a paper that goes to all Kiruna households.

Five international space students recently carried out a successful experiment on the student balloon BEXUS-7. With financial support from PROGRESSUM, they had built a “vacuum cleaner”, catching dust particles during the flight.

Five students from Kiruna launched a scientific experiment on the BEXUS-7 balloon from ESRANGE last week. “Our idea was basically a vacuum cleaner, we collected dust in the air, up to 27 km above the Kiruna region”, says Martin Siegl, one of the team members. He had built the experiment together with four other friends at IRV and IRF in Kiruna. The team had found excellent facilities there. “But the project would not have been possible without the financial help we got from PROGRESSUM”, Siegl points out. “The team would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who worked with us, especially our supervisors and the staff at IRV, IRF and ESRANGE for their input and help, even in stressful situations.” The campaign itself was organized and financed by a cooperation of the ESA Education office together with Rymdstyrelsen, Rymdbolaget and German DLR.

During the flight of their experiment - the students called it “Stratospheric Census” - it passed a layer of dust from a volcanic eruption.

“We are very excited about this and now we are looking forward to the analysis of our results.” Just like in a vacuum cleaner, the students had used a pump to generate an air stream and a filter to collect dust particles. This filter will now be examined, after it had been recovered from the balloon’s landing site close to Rovaniemi, Finland. “Luckily we didn’t land in a lake, we were just 2 meters away from one”, says Mark Fittock who had worked with the mechanical aspects of the setup.

The whole team, people from Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Australia agrees that Kiruna is the ideal place to be a space student. ” ESRANGE, where we launched, is close by.

]]>http://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?feed=rss2&p=190Bexus-6 and -7 safely recoveredhttp://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?p=188
http://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?p=188#commentsFri, 10 Oct 2008 12:40:19 +0000gerrithttp://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?p=72Bexus-6 and Bexus-7, the latter carrying Stratospheric Census, arrived at Esrange around 9:00 this morning, Friday 10 October. The Stratospheric Census team has dismounted the experiment from the gondola and is presently dismounting the filter, to be transported cleanly to the Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Czech Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic.

]]>http://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?feed=rss2&p=161Final preparations on their wayhttp://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?p=156
http://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?p=156#commentsWed, 08 Oct 2008 11:46:25 +0000gerrithttp://www.stratospheric-census.org/blog-test/?p=57The final tests for the Bexus-7 payload are being carried out. The E-link, the payload’s communication system, is now up and running.